The Far Side of Tech

It doesn’t take much to figure out that I have something of a schoolboy crush on high-definition video. Indeed, I am taking this upcoming onslaught of HD content as a sign that it may in fact like me right back. Recently though, I came to the realization that there isn’t nearly as much fanfare for HD-audio content, which has actually been available for several years now. In fact, it seems like the current trend in music is towards lower quality online downloads (I’m looking at you iTunes). So what happened? As always, I have a tale to tell, but I must warn you dear reader—it is truly heart wrenching. It involves two competing high-definition audio formats that arrived about the same time as DVD’s, and they called themselves “DVD-Audio” (DVD-A) and “Super Audio CD” (SACD).

Now I wouldn’t be too surprised if the vast majority of you have never heard of these formats. Over the course of their existence, they have been waging a war that has prevented either from becoming a mainstream success. The main benefit of both these formats is that of extraordinarily high quality audio recordings. They are both significant leaps ahead of what CD’s can offer.

A standard CD is encoded at 16-bit/44.1khz audio with two channels (left and right for stereo). In comparison, the quality of a typical DVD-audio or SACD recording is 24-bit/96khz with 5.1 audio channels. While these numbers may seem like gibberish, trust me when I say that both DVD-A and SACD offer a literal night and day improvement over CD’s. The difference is as shocking as that between standard definition and HD video.

So with an obvious advantage in quality, what prevented DVD-A and SACD from finding mainstream success? Well, for one thing, the fact that there are two HD audio formats out there doesn’t help at all, especially when they both do practically the same thing. Consumers generally loath to pick sides in a format war where the superior option isn’t abundantly clear. This situation is eerily similar to the eventual Blu-ray and HD-DVD war we’ll be seeing later this year. That SACD is backed by Sony, who stubbornly holds onto that format as they do to Blu-ray, makes this situation even more prescient.

In addition to the confusing choice in formats, it’s also somewhat difficult to buy the equipment necessary for either one. For example, the only way to play SACD discs is with a CD or DVD player that has SACD support— which are generally very expensive. Likewise, playing DVD-A involves having a DVD player that supports it, or a computer with a Creative Audigy 2 card or greater. Both formats sound best with surround sound setups, a concept which still confuses consumers when it comes to movie DVD’s. Some DVD players support both, but they are generally doubly expensive.

Both formats also utilize extensive encryption and copy protection, which in turn makes their hardware more expensive and cumbersome than it should be. The encryption for SACD’s is so heavy-duty it still isn’t possible to play those discs on computers, something which has become a bit of a trend these past few years. While it is possible to play DVD-A on PC’s, it requires a certain type of soundcard—exactly the sort of limitation that keeps away the general consumer. These copy protection schemes also prevent users from ripping their discs for use on their portable digital audio players, which may be the final death knell for SACD and DVD-A.

In the end we can boil down the failure of both DVD-A and SACD to stubborn corporations who can’t agree on a unified HD format, confusing and expensive hardware, and overbearing copy protection that restricts the way we can use our legally purchased media. Sound familiar? As I said before, it seems like the upcoming Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats are following down the same road. What will happen there is anyone’s guess.

As for the future of HD audio, there is a newer format called “Dualdisc” which is a double-sided disc that offers standard CD Audio on one side and DVD content on the other. The DVD content is sometimes equivalent to DVD-A quality, and at other times it’s just the equivalent of DVD special features. Despite its deficiencies, Dualdisc is garnering more support from the recording studios than they ever gave to SACD and DVD-A. Perhaps high-definition audio isn’t a complete bust just yet.

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